DEVILS vs CANUCKS | PRE-SCOUT | GAME #23

Hey, Devils Fans!

The obvious storyline for tonight’s game in Vancouver is, of course, all three Hughes brothers playing in the same National Hockey League game for the first time. From Jim and Ellen to Jack, Luke, and Quinn, what a tremendous accomplishment for the entire family! It also marks Curtis Lazar's first game back in VAN since being traded to the Devils at last season's deadline.

Tonight will be a challenge, but I'm optimistic that the team being back in Western Canada, where they had so much success last season, will allow them to put the last game behind them after three nights off.
Yes, everyone in the organization was disappointed to witness what unfolded at the Rock on Friday. The unbelievably lopsided stat sheet speaks for itself — it was an extremely frustrating night for the Devils.
Well, Devils fans, as ugly as 5 goals on 17 shots is in any game, the issue here, while needing those timely saves, is not just the Goaltending; it’s a combination of both Defense and Goaltending.

While the Devils are conceding slightly fewer Rush Chances per game compared to last season (including Odd-Man Rushes), their goals against off these rush chances are higher. We are seeing this increase in goals because they are conceding more dangerous types of rush chances - such as Partial (from top of the circles in) and Full (from blue line in) breakaways. The Devils are clearly not doing their goalies any favors by allowing the 3rd most breakaway chances against them!
Tonight, to get back in the W column, the Devils will have to be committed to respecting and valuing the puck against the second-highest-scoring team in the league.The Vancouver Canucks (16-8-1) are off to a great start this season, led by their newly appointed Captain, Quinn Hughes. This team has been an offensive juggernaut, executing on their chances (#2 highest Goals/GP rate / #12 expected goals rate), and a lot of credit goes to JT Miller (36 PTS), Quinn Hughes (34 PTS), and Elias Petterson (32 PTS), all inside the top 5 of individual scoring this season; as well as Brock Boeser, leading the league in goals with 17.

There may be some regression starting to factor in here with the 10 ranking spot difference separating their expected goals and actual goals, as VAN’s scoring is down almost 16% over the last 5 games. Overall, though, the Canucks have done an excellent job executing on their chances this season. Despite maintaining the #1 rate of OZ Possession Time in the league, they are surprisingly #20 in the generation of chances from high-danger areas, which means that it comes down to their finishers finding a way to bury their chances. So, as I’ve hammered home in this article, the Devils cannot continue to be careless with their puck play, or the puck will find the back of their net again tonight.
Defensively, it appears that the Devils might have a hard time creating chances off the rush (#6) and off the forecheck (#1) where this team strives in defending. Looking at their special teams, their PP does a very good job, like the Devils, in getting a high volume of shot attempts off and creating a lot of traffic around the net. Also, in a similar fashion to the Devils, we’re starting to see a relatively significant regression in their PPGs/2min, which is down almost 40% across the last 5 games (down about 34% for the Devils). It does look like their weak spot is in their PK, being at the bottom third of the league in lots of areas. If the Devils can get them to take penalties tonight, it could be a nice opportunity to generate some momentum.

The VAN goaltending has been rock solid for them all season long, and that likely won’t change tonight with a Vezina-caliber (so far) goalie projected to start tonight in Thatcher Demko. Hopefully, the Devils can solve him and kick off this road trip the right way, with a fourth win in the last five games. Big game tonight!
-Sal